Creation of a public defender office in Warren County got a more serious look Monday when District Attorney Ricky Smith had a follow-up meeting on the topic with the Warren County Board of Supervisors.

Under long-standing practice, circuit judges here appoint private attorneys to represent people accused of felony crimes when the defendants have no money to hire a lawyer. In turn, the approximately 30 to 40 attorneys who serve in the informal rotation now bill the county for about $550,000 per year.

Smith, whose district also includes Sharkey and Issaquena counties, indicated a public defenders office might cost less and told supervisors a four-person staff of defense attorneys could handle the approximately 700 cases reviewed annually by the DA’s office.

State law allows counties to form an office to defend those who cannot pay for legal defense. Most with a full-time staff are in the most populous counties such as Hinds, Forrest and Jackson.

The idea was one of several justice system suggestions put forth by the county’s hired jail planner, but to expedite cases as opposed to savings on legal fees. Consultant Dave Voorhis pointed out that the Warren County Jail is consistently at its 128-person capacity with almost no inmates except pre-trial detainees. If the county builds a 350-person jail without changing case processing procedures, Voorhis said, the risk is that it, too, will fill to capacity rapidly.

An advantage cited for a public defenders office would be that its attorneys would move cases along more rapidly. The defendants would be their direct responsibility, not a side responsibility to private-pay clients.

District 5 Supervisor Richard George, also board president, indicated he liked the cost-control aspect of a defenders office.

“When you put these folks on this salary, you’re guaranteeing they’re going to get paid that much and that they’re going to be at your service for the course of the year,” George said. “Whereas now, they have no guarantee — nor do we — of how much work is going to get done and how much it’s going to cost.”

Smith, a defense attorney and part-time public defender in Sharkey County for nine years before his 2007 election, said he updated the board not so much out of advocacy but that creating a public defenders office “was a primary recommendation” of Voorhis/Robertson Justice Services, authors of a study into the size and scope of a new county jail. A final report is due in April.

One challenge would be selection of the head defender by the senior circuit judge, Judge Isadore Patrick, in a “relatively small community” where the likelihood of conflicts involving repeat offenders is high, Smith said.

A staff of four part-time defenders would compare favorably to the lead defender and four staffers in Rankin County who are paid $43,400 and $38,400, respectively, Smith said.

Sharkey and Issaquena officials would apparently have the option of sharing in costs or continuing with court appointments on a case-by-case basis as most counties have done since the U.S. Supreme Court guaranteed the right to counsel in the 1963 case Gideon v. Wainwright.

“(The office) will only be as good as the attorneys who agree to take the position,” Smith said. “I think you need a head and three assistants.”

Supervisors are on track to build a new jail on a yet-to-be-selected 50-acre rural site, according to details of the study released late last year.

Contact Danny Barrett Jr. at dbarrett@vicksburgpost.com